As a side note, this does brings to mind a bit of an interesting thought for a hypothetical far off stretch-goal.
What if there could eventually be some mechanics that used the "actual" distances between planets rather than the wormhole network?
For example, perhaps there could be devices that an area affect that also have an affect other systems in close proximity to the one they are placed in, long range weapon emplacements that could "shoot" from one planet to another if they are within range, and/or there could be special high-cost and difficult to acquire transports that can warp through the space between planets directly without wormhole. Perhaps there could even be high-cost and difficult to acquire build-able gates that, rather than being instant transport from factories like the current gates, could act like full wormholes between planets and the cost or difficulty of construction be determined by the "actual" distance between them (think "Phase Stabilizers" in SoaSE).
Right now for most intents and purposes the wormholes themselves determine that "distance" between one planet and another regardless of a planet's position on the map. However, if there were methods of transport or effects that could occasionally bypass the wormhole network under certain conditions, then it would almost be like having two different maps simultaneously on top of each other. Some tactics or methods would use "real space" distances and some tactics would use "wormhole network" distances. Perhaps there could be two different versions of the map for players to use, the current "real space" map and an untangled "wormhole network" map.
It might be very difficult to do and/or involve a lot of weird work-arounds and/or "trickery" given how the game works currently, not to mention the possible consequences of making the game even more complex than it already is.
Still, such a thing might be something to consider for an "AI War 9.xxx" or whenever further down the road.
